Thinkpads Forum

I have had a dismal experience with the Lenovo customer support team. I dont think this is the place to vent my frustration and I'll get straight to the point. I bought a W500 with the XP downgrade and got my laptop yesterday. Whenever I start up the laptop - I see the safely remove hardware icon show up in the taskbar( next to the time) - it wants to remove my CD/DVD Rom. I called up the customer service and explained my problem, but dint get much help. I have tried the following and will appreciate any input/suggestions:
1. Ejected the CD/Dvd rom, re-inserted it.
2. Looked for the latest drivers - Found none
3. Looked up Microsoft support to find a solution for this possible (hardware/OS conflict)
4. Installed an Eject software ( This shows up under All Programs>Thinkvantage; this addition was recommended by a Lenovo service Tech).

I dont know if anyone has experienced this but the customer support team in Atlanta, Georgia/India is not very helpful. The customer service rep said this is an OS issue and they can only do so much. My point is I dint go to Best buy (or some other store) and pick up the OS there - it came pre-installed, the company(Lenovo) has to stand behind whatever they sell. Even if it is a third party software / part the company(Lenovo) is responsible for it (its a part of a product they sell). Its true for any product you buy ( all the sourced components are your responsibility and if a customer has issues you need to address them ).

Sorry being so descriptive!

Send it in for service. My guess is that the microswitch that senses when you activate the drive release lever is stuck open.

I dont know if I can do that right now. I did speak to a customer relations rep(apparently he was a native-English speaking gentleman) and he is going to call me Monday morning; he suggested we may have to re-install the OS/go in the BIOS - disable the hard drive and enable it again. If that doesnt fix the problem - he will refer my problem to the engineering group. I will be out of the country starting 11/24 and I dont want to send in the laptop - at this moment, I may do this when I come back if the problem does not get resolved(this Monday). Thanks for your response!

The Icon should always be there in the system tray if that's what you mean. The only time it would not be there is if you ejected the ultra bay disc drive. This icon is a tool that allows you to STOP the hardware device before physically removing the drive. Perhaps you were not aware the drive could be removed and replaced with a different drive at any time you choose? I use a second hard drive in that slot instead of the CD drive on most of my machines. If you are saying it has a pop up window telling you a message like "It is now safe to remove the device" please post the exact message so I can be clear. In that case in particular it would indicate the switch that tells the computer you have pull the eject slider is defective.

If it is the micro switch as suggested, upgrading to on sight service will allow a tech to come to you and replace the system board. There's really nothing else they can do. Then they will fix your system board and put it in someone else's machine. It just sucks to get a potentially pre owned system board for a brand new machine.

You might also try removing the drive completely and sliding it back in firmly. This could correct the problem. Again I am not talking about ejecting a DISC. I am talking about removing the entire drive.

http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site. ... MIGR-72331

http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site. ... MIGR-72340

http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site. ... MIGR-71600

Ps, go have some of this for me. http://www.thebodaciousbbq.com/